Dina Kellams, director of the Indiana University (IU) archives, was busy doing research for her upcoming book on the Bloomington campus’ architecture when she stumbled upon a January 1898 newspaper.
“I saw a headline that stated the first Negro woman had entered the state university. That’s not information we knew about,” said Kellams.
The woman’s name was Carrie Parker.
Kellams said it wasn’t surprising to her that Parker’s enrollment made the news, because during the 1890s, Black students beginning to attend a predominantly white Indiana University was noteworthy. The number of women attending IU at that time was also very low.
“IU was a much smaller institution then, probably the size of a large high school. That same newspaper indicated she attended in January of 1898. That previous semester, there were only six other African-Americans enrolled in the campus. She would have stood out,” said Kellams.
The archivist continued digging, because the university is constantly asked about groundbreaking achievements at IU, particularly for women and minorities. She unearthed Parker’s stormy yet perseverant past.
Parker was born in Enfield, North Carolina. According to documents, Parker’s mother had a desire for her children to become well educated and believed her family wouldn’t have quality opportunities to learn in their current town, so the family packed up and moved to Indiana.
Parker’s mother died shortly after they arrived, but her father honored his wife’s wishes.
Parker faced obstacles as a student in Clinton, Indiana.
“The principal at her school did not want to pass her. He did not want an African-American to go into high school. He flunked her three times through middle school. But she kept going,” said Kellams. “Even the townsfolk, white people, told him, ‘You have got to let her pass. She worked so hard.’”
Due to her setbacks, Parker befriended the county superintendent, who wrote to former IU President Joseph Swain and sang her praises.
According to documents written by Parker while enrolled at IU, she said she was not made to feel like an outcast. However, she was a working student, which later contributed to her discontinuance of college.
“She lived with a faculty member and his family and cooked and cleaned for them. The wife heaped so much work on her, she struggled to keep up with everything. The faculty member also paid a lot of attention to (Parker), so,” said Kellams.
An article featured in the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper reported at the end of the first semester of her sophomore year, Parker needed a break from school “due to nervous troubles.” In the next few months, she married a Bloomington man named John Taylor, despite her wishes to finish college before marriage. Kellams said Taylor promised her he’d pay for her to finish her education but never did for unknown reasons.
Kellams used the Recorder and other documents to locate Parker’s youngest son Leon Parker Taylor. He is 90 years old and currently resides in southern Michigan.
“According to her family, she didn’t let anything stop her. She was a writer, she wrote poetry. She helped establish a couple of churches, and she taught her five children about the importance of education,” said Kellams.
A few of Parker’s descendants attended IU, including her great-great-great-granddaughter, who is currently enrolled in the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
Kellams said information about Parker continues to resurface. She found out IU folklorist Richard Dorson interviewed Carrie and her sister Lulu for a book he was writing titled Negro Folktales in Michigan. The IU Lilly Library, the principal rare books, manuscripts and special collections repository of IU, holds Dorson’s papers from that research trip.
“I was thoroughly impressed to learn about the rediscovery,” said Clarence Boone, associate director of communities at the IU Alumni Association, executive director of the Neal Marshall Alumni Club and an alumnus of IU.
The university has appropriately honored Marcellus Neal, the first Black male to graduate from IU, and Francis Marshall, the first Black female to graduate from IU, and will rightfully honor Parker. Boone said the Carrie Parker Taylor Award, an endowed scholarship, has been created. The award will be used to recognize freshmen at IU Bloomington. Awardees must achieve significant academic accomplishments, demonstrate strong work ethic and inspire others to recognize their academic promise.
The IU Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs is spearheading this effort.
“The university has commissioned an artist to do a portrait to hang in the Indiana Memorial Union (IMU),” added Boone. The portrait will hang in the East Lounge among the “Women at IU” gallery of portraits. Parker’s painting will be a permanent fixture in the IMU.
Artwork of Parker will also be hung in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center on campus, and Kellams said the IU Alumni Association is working to name Parker an honorary alumna.
“We are pleased with the way the university has embraced Carrie Parker. Her descendants are honored by the way we have embraced her. And this means a lot to students who attend IU now,” said Boone. “IU alumni should read for themselves about Carrie Parker and should also consider supporting the scholarship in her honor.”
For more information, visit Indiana.edu/~dema or call (812) 856-5700.
